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The 2012 and '13 champion endured a troubled 2014 season, with injuries to both her feet, but she stood firmly on them while trouncing Stephens in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, for a third consecutive time, albeit their first clash outside of Rod Laver Arena.

Their rivalry spawned from a controversial first clash in the '13 semifinals, but Azarenka has put that well behind her after another convincing victory over the world No. 32.

Stephens won six of the first seven points, but Azarenka — ranked 44th after her limited '14 campaign — quickly recovered to be first to a service break.

The Belarusian got into the net and volleyed crisply in helping herself to a 2-1 lead, but Stephens broke straight back.

A netted swinging volley from Stephens saw the American fall behind again. Azarenka was dominating the longer rallies — she had won eight of 12 points lasting five shots or longer.

"Sloane is a player that she has really big weapons . . . when she uses them she's a very, very dangerous player," Azarenka said. "When you play against her, you want to try not give her opportunity to use those weapons. She has a really big serve and really heavy forehand."

Stephens closed out the seventh game with an ace, and a "come on," as she held for the first time since the opening game to stay within one break.

Azarenka broke again, though, to take the first set in 29 minutes. Her groundstroke depth bullied Stephens, whose attempts to keep the rallies short became her downfall.

The Azarenka procession continued early in the second set, but Stephens showed some grit to not let the match slip away. She saved five break points to square the set at 1-1 after a seven-deuce game.

It was Stephens' next service game when Azarenka converted her dominance to a match-winning lead, after the American committed two unforced errors from 30-30.

Azarenka preserved an odd statistic — she has lost exactly five games in each of her victories over Stephens — as she broke serve to round out victory in 1 hour, 15 minutes.

"She's won here before. Not the easiest on paper. But at the same time I'm just going to focus on myself, my own game," Wozniacki said. "Honestly, whether you have to beat her in the second round or fourth round, whatever, doesn't matter if you want to win the tournament."

The Williams sisters had an easy time of in their matches Tuesday. Venus, the 18th seed, began her quest for an eighth Grand Slam singles title by routing Maria Teresa Torro-Flor 6-2, 6-2. Top-seeded Serena (18 titles) moved into the second round with a comfortable victory over Alison Van Uytvanck.

Having previously lamented her preparation for the first major of the season, the five-time Australian Open champion crushed her Belgian opponent 6-0 6-4 in 61 minutes.

Serena played like a woman possessed in the first set on Margaret Court Arena, posting a 100 percent success rate on her first serve.

There was some short-lived success for Van Uytvanck early in the second set, as she held serve in the second game to avoid a dreaded double bagel.

To her credit, she continued to take it to Williams as unforced errors slowly crept into the top seed's game. Serena tallied up 13 unforced errors in the second set, but she claimed the only break of serve in the 10th game to secure her passage into the next round.

Whatever demons Sam Stosur had to battle at Melbourne Park, they were too scared to stick around very long on Tuesday.